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The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride was an attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World and a dark ride which took guests through scenes from famous films throughout motion picture history. The ride was located inside a recreation of the famous Hollywood landmark Grauman's Chinese Theatre. However, because the Walt Disney Company was denied permission to use the name "Grauman", the proper name of the building is simply "The Chinese Theatre". (Also, at the time the attraction was opened, the actual Grauman's Theater was officially known as "Mann's Chinese Theater" as it was owned by the Mann film theater group.) The facade was almost completely blocked from view in 2001 when a giant replica of the Sorcerer's Hat was built directly in front of it. It served as the park's symbol until it was demolished in 2015. On July 15, 2017, Disney announced that the attraction would close and be replaced with a dark ride themed after Mickey Mouse. Attraction Premise *Relive some of the greatest movie moments in history during a tram ride that puts you in the middle of the magic. *Step back in time as you behold a full-scale reproduction of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Featuring handprints, footprints, and signatures of some of Disney’s greatest stars embedded in the cement outside, the theater meticulously captures the pageantry of the legendary movie palace that has become a symbol of Hollywood’s Golden Age. *Parade inside the art-deco-inspired grand lobby and view a dazzling menagerie of props, set pieces, and costumes from classic films. *Stroll onto a soundstage designed to recall 1930s-era Hollywood and board a tram for a captivating tour of some of Tinseltown's greatest film scenes. Glide beneath a flashing movie marquee and cross over into a world that could only exist in the movies. *Featuring nearly 50 lifelike Audio-Animatronics replicas of legendary movie stars, lavishly produced set pieces, and wondrous special effects, The Great Movie Ride immerses you in the thrills, chills and romance of some of the most memorable moments in motion picture history. *Your informative tour guide will set the stage for the scenes you'll visit. Just don't be surprised if something unexpected happens along the way. Keep telling yourself, it's only a movie. Attraction Summary Queue The queue wound through a recreation of Grauman's Chinese Theatre lobby past glass display cases containing actual costumes, props, and set pieces from various films. The queue then took guests into a small pre-show theatre where guests viewed a series of condensed film trailers for the various films that were featured on the ride. The queue line ended at a pair of automatic doors at the front of the theatre that led into a 1930s era Hollywood soundstage where guests were loaded onto waiting ride vehicles. Props that were displayed in the queue area throughout the ride's existence *Mary's Merry-go-round horse from Mary Poppins *Susan's costume from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. *A green peacock Elizabethan dress worn by Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. *The Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz (Another of the 5 known pairs is in the National Museum of American History administered by the Smithsonian). *Indy's machete and Monkey Heads from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom *The Dejarik board used aboard the Millennium Falcon in the original Star Wars. *The dip machine model and bullet case from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. *Spacesuit and various props from the films Alien and Armageddon *Sam's piano from Casablanca. *A dress was worn by Maria in The Sound of Music. *The title object from Cocoon. *The model Nautilus submarine from Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea along with a dive suit from the film as well. Ride The neon theatre marquee was located inside of the 1930's-era Hollywood soundstage at the beginning of the ride. As guests reached the end of the queue, they entered a 1930's-era Hollywood soundstage where they were loaded by cast members into one of two sets of open, theatre-style seating ride vehicles. The vehicles utilized a "traveling theatre" style ride system similar to the Universe of Energy attraction at Epcot. However, here the ride vehicles were much smaller in size, were grouped together in pairs of two, and featured an open cab in the first row of the front vehicle for a live tour guide to stand, provide narration, and operate the ride vehicle. When the attraction was operating during the peak season, both sets of ride vehicles were used. Otherwise, only the second set of ride vehicles was used. On some occasions (most likely to occur during performances of Fantasmic!) when the park was not crowded, only one vehicle would be used. The film set within the soundstage featured a large neon theatre marquee and a cyclorama of the 1930's-era Hollywood Hills complete with the original Hollywoodland Sign. As the ride began, the tour guide on the ride vehicle welcomed guests and informed them that they would be taking them through scenes from different classic films throughout history. The first genre of films introduced were musicals, which began with a pyramid of Audio-animatronic chorus girls in a scene from Busby Berkeley's Footlight Parade. The next musical scenes included audio-animatronics of Gene Kelly swinging from a lamp post from the film Singin' in the Rain, followed by Julie Andrewsand Dick Van Dyke singing Chim Chim Cher-ee on the rooftops of London in Mary Poppins. The next scene was a tribute to gangster films. The ride vehicle passed through the dark and seedy backstreets of 1930's Chicagoand past an audio-animatronic James Cagney in a scene from The Public Enemy. When the Bandit show was running, the lead ride vehicle continued on to the next scene while the second car was stopped by a red light above a tunnel entrance. The tour guide stopped the ride vehicle and waited for a green light, not wanting to "break the law, even if it is just a movie." While stopped, a live gangster named Mugsy (male) or Mugsi (female) and their audio-animatronic sidekicks Squid and Beans showed up and got involved in a shoot-out with rival mobsters (Brains, Legs, and Weasel) in a car on the opposite side of the street where the ride vehicle was stopped, resulting in Beans getting badly wounded. Although Squid and Beans were left behind to "give gangster's regards to the warden," the live gangster chased away the tour guide and hijacked the ride vehicle. When the gangster noticed the red light, they shot it out and made their getaway aboard the ride vehicle. Next was a tribute to the Western genre. Here, guests encountered audio-animatronics of Clint Eastwood standing near a saloon and John Wayne sitting atop his horse. If the ride vehicle was already being driven by the gangster, it continued past a shoot-out between the town sheriff and an audio-animatronic bank robber named Snake. On this version of the show, the ride vehicle stopped here while the robbery was in progress and a live bank robber named Kate Durango (female) or Kid Carson (male) appeared from inside the bank. After getting into a shoot-out with the town sheriff and chasing the tour guide away, the bandit blew up the town bank with dynamite and hijacked the ride vehicle. Following this scene, the remainder of the attraction was the same for both sets of ride vehicles. As the ride vehicle continued into a spaceship, a narrator's voice stated that this was the Nostromo, the ship from the film Alien. The narrator then told guests of the alien lurking within the ship waiting to claim its next victim. Guests could also hear the Nostromo’s mother computer warning of the imminent self-destruction countdown. Hearing this, the hijacker became nervous and sped the ride vehicle through the ship. But not before the Alienappeared and attacked the guests, popping out from both the ceiling and the wall. Before exiting the spaceship, the ride vehicle passed a scene of an audio-animatronic Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) holding a flamethrower as she prepared to confront the Alien. Behind her was a steady drip of slime. This could only be seen if the rider payed close attention to that part of the corridor. The ride vehicle next entered a scene set in an ancient Egyptian temple filled with snakes. The narrator informed guests that they were in a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark as audio-animatronic figures of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) struggled to lift the Ark of the Covenant. A second room within the temple (though not from the film) featured a large altar in the form of the ancient Egyptian god Anubis. Near the top of the altar, a large jewel was being watched over by a cloaked temple guard. The hijacker saw it, stopped the ride vehicle, and disembarked to retrieve it. Before touching it, the temple guard gave a warning that those who disturbed it must pay with their life. Ignoring the warning, the hijacker reached to grab it. Suddenly, a plume of smoke shot from the ground. When it dispersed, the hijacker was now nothing more than a skeleton (still reaching for the jewel) and the temple guard was revealed to be the original tour guide who reboarded the vehicle and continued the ride. The next film genre introduced was the horror film as the ride vehicle traveled through an ancient burial chamber full of mummies who had come to life. The ride vehicle soon left the tomb and entered a jungle, which was home to Tarzan the Ape Man. Here, audio-animatronic figures of Tarzan swinging on a vine, Jane sitting on top of an elephant, and Cheeta the chimpanzeecould be seen. The ride vehicle then moved past the classic final scene from Casablanca featuring audio-animatronics of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as they stood in front of a waiting airplane. Some incorrectly claimed that this plane, a Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior, was the actual one from the film, but it wasn't as no full-size one was actually used in it. The one on the attraction was allegedly used in Tarzan's New York Adventure and other films in the 1940's before being purchased by Disney. The back half was cut off and could be found resting along the shoreline of the Jungle Cruise attraction at the Magic Kingdom.3Next, the ride vehicle passed a film projection of Mickey Mouse in his role as The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the classic Disney animated film Fantasia. The ride vehicle then entered into the Munchkinland scene from The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy's house had landed on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. During peak season, both sets of ride vehicles met up here and came to a stop in the middle of the scene. Audio-animatronic Munchkins began to appear from various places and sang as they welcomed the riders to their home. However, a plume of smoke suddenly rose from the ground as an audio-animatronic Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) appeared and asked who was responsible for killing her sister. The tour guide aboard the first set of ride vehicles answered her before she finally disappeared in another puff of smoke. The Munchkins finally reappeared from their hiding places and began to sing again as both sets of ride vehicles followed the Yellow Brick Road out of Munchkinland past audio-animatronic figures of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and Toto standing in front of the Emerald City, and onto the ride's grand finale. For the grand finale, both sets of ride vehicles entered a large, dark theatre where they lined up side-by-side and came to a stop in front of a large film screen. There, a fast-paced three minute film montage of classic film moments was shown. At the conclusion, both sets of ride vehicles exited the theatre, guests applauded for the tour guide, lined up single-file again and returned to the 1930's soundstage where the ride concluded and exited the attraction. Unlike many Disney dark rides that featured separate embarkation and debarkation areas, this one had only a single combined unloading and loading area. The last people to exit the vehicles often passed the next group of guests waiting to board the vehicles. At the time the ride was designed (the mid to late 1980's), it was common throughout the theme park industry to have all major rides exit into a merchandise store selling novelties associated with the attraction the guests just exited. The ride did not exit directly into a store. Gallery External links *Official website Category:Dark Rides Category:Disney Attractions Category:Disney's Hollywood Studios Category:Attractions in Disney's Hollywood Studios Category:Rides Category:Walt Disney World